Slippery Slope: 17% of Americans think polygamy is okay

We warned you about the slippery slope, after the Supreme Court legalized homosexual marriage in 2015.

Polygamy — having multiple spouses at one time, which President James Garfield once said “offends the moral sense” — was one of the most morally taboo social behaviors in the eyes of Americans.

But a new Gallup poll — the Values and Beliefs poll conducted on May 3-7, 2017 — found that the percentage of U.S. adults who find polygamy morally acceptable has accelerated in recent years.

Gallup began measuring Americans’ moral perceptions of polygamy in 2003. For the first seven years (2003-2010), the rate of U.S. adults who said polygamy was “morally acceptable” was always in the single digits. But beginning in 2010 — the second year of Obama’s first term as POTUS — that percentage began to rise, from 11% in 2011, to 14% in 2016, and to 17% in the latest poll, which is nearly 1 in 5 American adults.

Not surprisingly, religion is a factor in Americans’ attitude toward polygamy:

Between 2011 and 2017, 32% of atheists and non-religious (those who do not identify with any religion) said polygamy was “morally acceptable.”This follows the general tendency for those who are less religious to be more liberal on social issues.

In contrast, Christians and even Mormons are less likely than the overall sample average to find polygamy morally tolerable:

12% of Mormons

10% of Catholics

9% of Protestants/other Christians

Oddly, the Gallup poll makes no mention of another religious group — Jews.

And what accounts for Americans’ increasing acceptance of polygamy? Gallup’s Andrew Dugan attributes it to at least two factors:

Television: “Beginning in the mid-2000s, television shows began to feature polygamist characters — though these depictions were not always favorable. The TLC show ‘Sister Wives’ premiered in 2010, and according to The Washington Post, humanized a family of polygamists. The show was successful and remains on the air. Notably, over the time it has been on the air, Gallup has seen support for polygamy rise by nearly 10 percentage points, although it is impossible to establish any direct causality between the show and changing attitudes.”

Overall increase in “social liberalism”: “Many of the moral norms that have changed the most in the U.S. over the last few decades are related to sex and marriage — including gay/lesbian relations, divorce and having a baby out of wedlock.” There is still a last bastion that social liberalism hasn’t yet completely penetrated — adultery. Having an extramarital affair remains nearly as morally toxic this year as it was in 2001, with about one in 10 Americans finding it morally acceptable (10% in 2017 and 7% in 2001).

It is downright frightening how malleable the U.S. and any culture is, and how swift the moral erosion.

What is there to be surprised of? Tv was running shows of sisters sharing the same husband and all seemed very happy? There was no competition, no jealousy, no arguments, everybody looked happy and content, how peaceful, there was no violence sharing the same man and the man was not not “adulterous”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the mormons continue the practice of polygamy, and nobody seems to care, it all may be considered normal because there are no transgenders, lesbians, gays, no interracial unions, blah, blah, blah…..

Just a thought…..but even though I think polygamy then and now is just plain STUPID, economically difficult, messy, ultimately demoralizing for everyone involved eventually…..( I lived in rural Utah for many years where illegal polygamy was fairly common in splinter groups)…….besides all THAT….the common practice of one man having several wives has it ALL BACKWARD. IMO…..it makes more economic sense for one woman to have MANY husbands…..she can only produce so many children….and unless it’s a multiple birth, it’s one child at a time linearly, instead of the geometric production of the typical male -based polygamist family with several gravid wives producing year after year at the same time…..with many fathers, the economic base of the family/children would have a broad base in their formative and educational years…and you ALWAYS KNOW who your mother is b/c she was THERE when you are born…there are no guarantees in life that you EVER know whom your father was (in this situation or in “the real world NOW) unless every baby born has a DNA test at birth……(apologies to the faithful….but, just a thought)….

My personal belief is that our laws, culture and values should come from the informed consciences we develop through our faith. I do not equate what’s “legal” with what’s “moral” unless there happens to be a nexus.

An example would be that the state can “allow” homosexual “marriages”, but I do not recognize them as such. They may be something, but they are not “marriages”. Those are a man and women in the eyes of the Church.

I am not Moslem. I do not believe in polygamy. Marriage is a sacrament. Canon law defines the conditions of that. I am not going to tell someone that I think it’s “ok” because that’s what they believe. I will say that it is their cross to bear.

While I wish there were no sin in the world, I know that it will always be here. I also know that we are required to resist sin. It is not acceptable to be in sin and simply revel in it. That is soul destroying and ruins our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

The Church defines certain objectives and a path for life. It is not for us to design “alternatives” that please us or we think may be more palatable. I have my thoughts about what some cults in Utah do. They do not have to answer to me, however.